This invention concerns surgical needles and procedures for their use. In particular the invention relates to a needle which can be vibrated to aid in passing through tissue and which, in some embodiments, has provision for attaching to a suture to pull the suture through tissue as the needle is retracted.
Application Ser. No. 859,887, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,855, discloses a one-way surgical suture and methods for its use. The sutures have barbs enabling passage through tissue in one direction, but not the other, so that wounds can be closed by a pair of such one-way sutures oriented oppositely on opposed sides of a wound and connected together, or, as the pending application discloses, by a double armed suture with barbs in opposite directions, both ends implanted into opposite sides of the wound. The copending application discloses several methods for use of such one-way sutures. This invention is concerned with a surgical needle apparatus particularly useful with such one-way sutures, and also with a cooperating feature which helps avoid blood vessels and nerves as the needle is pushed through the patient's tissue.
The following patents have some relevance to the subject matter of this invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,103,689, 4,356,823, 4,493,694, 4,708,717, 4,730,635, 4,886,491, 5,199,943, 5,254,082, 5,380,273, 5,514,086, 5,484,398, 5,549,119, 5,562,609, 5,562,610, 5,645,537. Most of these patents are concerned with medical devices involving suction, or ultrasonic vibration, or both. The suction is generally applied to the medical instrument for the purpose of drawing fragments of tissue out of the body, often after portions of tissue have been shattered using ultrasonic energy transmitted from the tip of the tool.
Of the above patents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,119 describes a vibrating tip catheter or guidewire which is vibrated for the purpose of passing through tortuous anatomical pathways, the vibration being intended to enhance the ability of the catheter or guidewire to pass through the narrow pathways or to cross lesions or stenoses. In that patent the vibrations can be achieved with a microvibrating motor integral with the catheter or guidewire, the frequency and amplitude of vibration being adjustable via an external control device. The instrument seems primarily concerned with movement through a blood vessel, particularly for angioplasty and atharectomy.
Medical devices of the prior art have not been effective for the purposes of the present invention, and have not included a surgical suturing needle which vibrates at a sub-ultrasonic frequency to aid in passing the needle through tissue, or a surgical needle which is hollow, with means for gripping the end of a suture.